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DVD Brief: The King and I

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The King and I

Warner Bros.
1999
G
89 minutes
Widescreen 1.85:1
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive menu
Theatrical trailer
Languages: English, Spanish, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Close-captioned
Extras: Seven-minute featurette about gestation of the animation and the music; profiles of characters and actors, a promotional "sizzle" reel (about seven minutes long); on-screen sing-along lyrics; karaoke function; Web-enabled DVD- ROM games.
Suggested Retail Price: $24.98
Director: Richard Rich
Writers: Peter Bakalian and Jacqueline Feather & David Seidler
Cast: Voices of Miranda Richardson (Anna speaking), Christiane Noll (Anna singing), Martin Vidnovic, Ian Richardson, Darrell Hammond.

Description: Animated version of Rodgers and Hammerstein classic about an attractive English widow (Anna Leonowens) who travels to Siam in 1862 to become the proper governess for the king of Siam's royal children. Though this could have been a great introduction to one of the great musicals of all time, it's dragged down by silly animated characters (a mango-throwing monkey, for one, as well as martial arts definitely not in the Rodgers and Hammerstein repertoire). Still, there are the great songs -- "Shall We Dance" and "Getting to Know You" -- to turn kids on to the classics.

Image: Despite this being a big-budget screen production the animation is surprisingly flat and drab, the colors subdued, the drawings lacking definition and depth. The DVD is, unfortunately, faithful to the big- screen version.

Sound: Like the animation, the sound -- and the music, which is mostly orchestral -- is flat and uninvolving.

All DVDs are screened on a reference Onkyo DV- S717 third-generation DVD player.

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